Wheat Belly Cookbook: 150 Recipes to Help You Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health

This cookbook companion to the New York Times bestseller Wheat Belly serves up 150 great tasting wheat-free recipes to help readers lose weight and beat disease.Wheat Belly shook the foundations of the diet world when author and renowned cardiologist William Davis revealed that an epidemic of adverse health effects—ranging from minor rashes and high blood sugar to the buildup of stubborn belly fat (so-called “wheat bellies”)—could be banished forever with one simple step: Saying goodbye to wheat. The Wheat Belly Cookbook takes readers to the next level with over 150 fresh and delicious wheatless recipes, including Breakfast Quesadillas, Braised Pot Roast with Vegetables, velvety Peanut Butter Pie—and surprising wheat-free hits like Blueberry French Toast, Bruschetta Chicken on Angel Hair, Spaghetti Bolognese and velvety Scones.Additionally, readers will also learn how to:

Dodge symptoms of “wheat withdrawal” experienced by about 10 percent of dieters, ensuring a smooth transition to this new healthy eating plan

Set up their wheat-free kitchen, including important prep techniques, shopping lists, and strategies to get the whole family on board

Avoid regaining a wheat belly while eating out at restaurants and parties—plus exciting meal ideas guests will love

$ 13.07

This review is from: Wheat Belly Cookbook: 150 Recipes to Help You Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health (Hardcover)

The Wheat Belly Cookbook is a great complement to Dr. William Davis’ book “Wheat Belly”, which argued that today’s wheat is really a “Frankengrain” because it has been generically engineered for increased crop yield and is no longer a natural product. Dr Davis believes that modern wheat is at the root of obesity as well as many other modern ailments, including heart disease, acid reflux, edema and even arthritis.

The cookbook includes a very good (and concise) overview of Dr. Davis’s main points, so you could probably get away with just buying this cookbook if you don’t already have the first book. The sections on avoiding “wheat withdrawal” and setting up a wheat-free kitchen are also very good.

The recipes themselves are clearly explained and easy to follow, although some are fairly complex. There are a total of 150, divided into categories including: Breakfasts, Sandwiches and Salads, Appetizers, Soups and Stews, Main Dishes, Side Dishes, Sauces and Salad Dressing, and Bakery. I was quite amazed that many favorite foods that normally rely very heavily on wheat were included. I have actually tried making the pizza and found it be great!

The book also includes lots of very nice color photos. Beware that some of the “recipes” are really more general techniques, for example, making a sandwich using lettuce rather than bread. However, these are still good ideas that will help you create healthy meals.

One problem is that many of the recipes do require a fair amount of time. If you want a wheat-free (and low-carb) alternative that can be prepared very quickly (or on the run), I would also recommend The Protein Express Diet: Rapid Weight Loss with a Simplified Low Carb, High Protein Diet, which can be used in conjunction with the Wheat Belly program. A strong focus on high protein and low carbs is probably also a good idea if you have a significant amount of weight to lose.

Overall the Wheat Belly cookbook is excellent. By cutting out wheat and watching calorie intake, Dr Davis claims it should be possible to lose about 15 pounds in 30 days.

It can be summed up, as the author does, very simply: “Wheat is not to be trusted” and in even more blunt terms, he calls it “the Enron of the food world.” Dr. William Davis adds that whole grains (which are considered healthy by many ) can contribute to high blood pressure and cholesterol, irritable bowel syndrome – even depression. Of course, the author goes far beyond this bare bones summary in the book.

The Wheat Berry Cookbook is divided into two parts, along with a detailed introduction. Part I focuses on The Wheat Belly Way of eating. Part 2 centers on recipes as well as some very intriguing success stories, complete with photos of the people who share their experiences. I was fascinated by these personal accounts.

Many are family-friendly but if you like to branch out from the usual fare you can try other choices such as the Feta Spinach Swordfish. The No-Macaroni and Cheese is a winner, with cauliflower serving as a stand-in for the pasta. No, it doesn’t taste like “regular” Macaroni and Cheese but I like it better.

If you’re cautious about your fat intake, I should mention that even some of the lower calorie recipes can have high fat amounts in them. One example is a creamed spinach which has only 235 calories but a whopping 18 grams of fat. Spaghetti squash is a favorite of mine and the recipe for Spaghetti Squash with Brown Butter and Sage has 172 calories – of which 12 grams (more than half the total calories) are fat. Since we had squash on hand, I tried this recipe – for breakfast yet- and was easily able to lower the amount of butter from a whopping 4 tablespoons to far less. The taste was still excellent and the sage was a wonderful addition.

Bonus material includes the individual success stories noted above as well as a list of not-so-obvious foods which may contain wheat. There is also an appendix of resources for products, websites, and more wheat-free recipes. This information should simplify things for those new to the Wheat Belly Diet. References provide further reading material if you are interested in knowing more about the studies and statistics behind the info in this book.

Bottom line? You are either going to buy into the information presented here or you aren’t. Here’s where I”m coming from: I’ve cut my use of wheat significantly and have definitely felt better with the lab results (lower cholesterol) and weight loss to support my conclusions. However, I am not yet wheat free. But close. I’m still a work in progress – nearly 40 pounds lighter and without the aches and pains I had from that extra weight. Are all my improvements due to less wheat? I honestly don’t know. But it is possible.

A caveat for those of you allergic to nut products: a fair amount of the recipes suggest ground almond flour, including a basic bread recipe which is used for other recipes such as French Toast. However, I’ve found that coconut and other flours can be substituted although you may have to play around with the proportions. If you are allergic to coconuts as well as almonds, etc…then you’ll have to tweak things significantly for the bread recipes – at least, a fair amount of the time.

If you’re new to wheat-free eating, the author has lists of resources and even brand names for wheat substitutes: garbonzo and coconut flours, and more. He also lists foods which may be assumed to be wheat free but are not..

This review is from: Wheat Belly Cookbook: 150 Recipes to Help You Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health (Hardcover)

Dr. Davis has succeeded in drawing attention to the dangers of wheat and the benefits of a low-carb diet beyond what I thought possible. He builds a convincing case against this new plant that he says shouldn’t even be called “wheat,” and he documents most of his arguments with supportive research. I was already avoiding most grains and decided to eliminate wheat after reading Wheat Belly. I have been following a low-carb lifestyle and writing about it for over 13 years, so it wasn’t a radical change for me.

I do have a major concern about both of the Wheat Belly books, however. Ten out of the 29 recipes in the original Wheat Belly call for flax, as do most of the recipes in the new cookbook. Flax meal has become a staple food for many who want to avoid wheat. It is used in gluten-free baked goods and as a flour substitute in low-carb foods. It is also used as a replacement for eggs in low-fat and vegan recipes and as a supplement to provide fiber and omega-3 fats. Many people are eating it in great quantities, thinking it is the ultimate superfood or, as one writer said to me, “The most powerful food on the planet.”

A closer look shows some pretty scary stuff about flax, rancidity, for one. Flax contains very fragile oils that are easily damaged by heat, light, air, and time. It should be stored in the refrigerator and used promptly. Only fresh, ripe, freshly-ground seeds are safe to eat, so obviously, cooking with flax is not a good idea.

Flax has a lot in common with soy, once the darling of the healthfood crowd. Both soy and flax contain estrogen mimics. (An extract of soy is used as hormone replacement therapy for treating menopause symptoms.) These plants produce hormones as a way to defend themselves from predators (like us) by disrupting the endocrine system of those who eat them so they can’t reproduce. Eating a lot of plant estrogens might not be such a good thing, especially for men.

Soy, a byproduct of the vegetable oil industry, has been heavily marketed as a health food since the 1990s. Flax seed comes from the kind of plant used for making linen. Neither were staple foods in any traditional society. A 1998 study from Cornell conducted by vegan advocate and author of The China Study, T. Collin Campbell, reported that the Japanese ate less than 2 teaspoons of soy protein per day. (Celibate monks, who use soy and a vegetarian diet to reduce libido, are an exception.)

In addition to soy, which is already ubiquitous in our food supply, pesticides, plastics such as Bisphenol A (BPA), and chemicals like perfluoroctanoic acid (PFOA), also contain these hormone-like chemicals and the dose is cumulative. BPA and PFOA, the so-called gender benders, have been linked to breast cancer, fertility problems, and other hormone related illnesses.

While both flax and soy contain estrogen mimics, according to Web MD, flax contains 800 times as much of these hormone-like chemicals as soy!! In fact, flax contains more plant estrogens than any other plant food.

We are already experiencing an epidemic of infertility along with our other epidemics of obesity, diabetes, autism, auto-immune diseases, explosive rage disorder, and more. You may have heard that American men have one-third the sperm counts of their grandfathers and that by 2050, for the first time in modern history, scientists are predicting that our population will start to go down. Add in all the men who are on statins to reduce cholesterol (testosterone is made out of cholesterol), and it is easy to see why the same companies that sell statins also sell Viagra and Cialis.

There is conflicting evidence about phytoestrogens (phyto means plant). Some think they may be helpful, some think they may be harmful, and most of the articles about them end by saying, “more research is necessary.” But this much is clear: This is potent medicine and the dosage is very important!

How much is a dose? Even the sites that recommend flax as a supplement tell you to consult your doctor to determine how much to take. The USDA says that 3 tablespoons of flax a day is a safe level. Some of the recipes in the Wheat Belly Cookbook contain more than that in a single serving.

Below is a sample of warnings about flax from various organizations:

~from MayoClinic.com: […]“Taking flaxseed or flaxseed oil by mouth may cause a person with bipolar disorder to experience mania or hypomania….

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